Elena Mukhina. Gymnastics

One of the most talented athletes, who was brought up by the school of sports gymnastics of the Soviet Union, was Mukhina Elena. She became famous for her unique working capacity and rejection, as well as her tragic fate. After an unsuccessful fatal injury, the gymnast was forever confined to bed. Unable to move, she, nevertheless, lived up to 46 years.

Elena Mukhina: biography, childhood

Elena was born in Moscow in 1960 on June 1. As her mother died early, and her father left the girl, the grandmother was fully engaged in raising her child. The girl from the very childhood, unlike her contemporaries, dreaming of figure skating, dreamed of a gymnast's career. The joy of it was not the limit, when once the master of sports Antonina Pavlovna Olezhko came to the class and offered to practice in a gymnastic gym. The girl has always been very hardworking and incredibly able-bodied. Thanks to these qualities and natural grace, very soon she was noticed by eminent coaches.

The beginning of professional sports career

Thanks to constant work and talent, the girl did not stay long in the sports section of Olezhko. Soon Elena Mukhina got to the titled trainer Alexander Eglita, who worked at the club "Dynamo" at that time. A little later, Eglith moved to the CSKA club and took his pupils with him, not wanting to leave them. Thus, at 14, already a candidate for master of sports, Mukhina Elena began to train at CSKA.

Trainer Mikhail Klimenko

After moving to another sports club, the gymnast's trainer suggested working with her colleague Mikhail Klimenko. Previously, he trained only the male team, however, having looked at the technique of Mukhina, agreed to take her to his group. The attitude of the coach to his ward was always too strict and exacting. He never allowed a girl to relax, demanded of her full return, the performance of elements on the verge of human capabilities. Thanks to this attitude, for 2 years Klimenko turned his pupil into a high-class gymnast. We must pay tribute to the athlete - she always obeyed unconditionally. Klimenko was the last one to coach Mukhin.

1975 year. First injuries

In 1975 Mukhina Elena Vyacheslavovna received the first serious injury when she was training during the Games of the Peoples of the USSR. Performing a jump in the foam hole, she landed unsuccessfully on her head. Roentgen showed a rupture of the spinous processes of the cervical vertebrae. With such a trauma the girl needed a long rehabilitation in the orthopedic collar. The coach, however, did not give her time to relax and every day, straight from the hospital, drove the student to training, where she took off her collar, which did not allow her to turn her head, and worked out the program. It's amazing that under this regime she could still recover and continue the competition. Nevertheless, Elena Mukhina's trauma constantly made itself felt by a sensation of weakness and numbness of the lower limbs.

1976 year. Unjustified hopes

In 1976, for barely recovering from the injury gymnast Mikhail Klimenko puts a complex program, probably the most difficult of the time. Then Elena Mukhina was a candidate for the Olympic team for the Games in Canada. However, sports leaders felt that the athlete was unable to perform stably, and did not take her to the competitions. Nevertheless, she continued to work hard.

1977 year. Rapid takeoff

In 1977 Elena became the second in the all-round classification of the USSR championship, which gives her the right to play in the adult European championship in Prague. What was it that made Elena Mukhina so special? "Loop Mukhina" is a famous element, which the gymnast demonstrates for the first time in the program on the uneven bars. Elena performed it with such ease that it seemed to viewers that she was fluttering over a shell. This transformed element was reworked from the "Loop of Korbut" by her trainer Mikhail Klimenko. At the competitions in Prague, Elena Mukhina became the owner of gold medals on three different shells and only slightly did not hold in the individual standings on points to the Romanian gymnast Nadi Komanech.

1978 year. The triumph of Elena Mukhina

The most outstanding and fruitful in the career of gymnast Elena Mukhina was in 1978. First she won the title of the best gymnast of the USSR, and a little later, at the World Championships in France, became the absolute world champion. Then she won the team competition, became a finalist in competitions on three of the four types of shells, in each of which she won medals. This year the Soviet gymnast bypassed her rival Nadia Komaneci. In Moscow, the champion was greeted with great joy and delight.

Hard work for the sake of victory

All sports achievements were given to Elena Mukhina not only with hard work and tremendous talent. Sports are permanent injuries. And Mukhina was no exception. After the first serious injury of the cervical vertebrae, there were others. Elena Mukhina is a gymnast, who needs to be given credit. She gave herself completely to work, despite her numerous injuries.

In 1977, when the athlete was preparing for the World Cup, she fell and hit the bottom of the projectile so sideways that it broke. Elena felt that she broke her ribs. However, she still continued training, practicing the elements on other shells. When the pain became intolerable, the athlete complained to the coach. However, he did not take seriously her complaints. Since before that he always worked only with men, he felt that the girl was just being naughty.

In 1978, on one of the training sessions on the eve of the USSR youth games, Mukhina traumatized her thumb on her arm, which completely jumped out of the joint. I corrected myself, clenching my teeth and not telling anyone. Later, because of the washed floor, performing an element without marking, did not calculate the take-off before the jump and fell, hitting his head.

There were both sprained ankles and concussions of the brain. But no injuries allowed to get indulgence. So, sniffing ammonia, to dull the pain, Mukhina was training for wear. By 1979, she was so tired that she was depressed, often crying. However, she continued to work out the most complex program.

Last warning

After the triumph at the World Championships, Elena Mukhina's main goal and her coach was to join the Olympic team in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. But all their expectations were not justified. At the demonstration performances in the fall of 1979 in England, Mukhina broke her leg. After 1.5 months with gypsum, it turned out that the bones had parted, and the fracture was connected and gypsum plastered again. This was a kind of last warning to the athlete that the body's capabilities are not unlimited. She even wanted to leave professional sports. However, the coach persuaded her to stay. Moreover, he did not give Mukhina a day of rest, forcing him to train on shells with a painful leg. She had to cut off only one foot.

The fatal trauma of Elena Mukhina

Since the famous gymnast was not in the best sports uniform and was not fully recovered after the fracture of her leg, it was included in the Olympic team conditionally. Mikhail Klimenko, however, was absolutely sure that his ward could and should participate in competitions. The last charges before the Olympics were held in Minsk. The training was very intense. The accumulated fatigue was felt. Mukhina persevered in the program, but not everything turned out, because of what the coach just more out of himself.

Literally on the eve of the opening of the Games, Klimenko left his ward under the care of choreographers to go to Moscow and defend her right to compete. However, during training Elena Mukhina disobeyed the coach and decided to try to execute the new element herself, without insurance. It was a fatal mistake. Carrying out the most complicated element in the program of free exercises - a somersault in a half-turn with a rotation of 540 degrees and landing in a somersault - the athlete did not twist it and fell on her neck. Witnesses later said that this was because the gymnast could not push the patient painfully enough.

Treatment and life after falling

Perhaps, the athlete could be returned to a full life, if the operation was done on time. Unfortunately, then there was not a qualified surgeon nearby, and the operation could be done only upon arrival in Moscow, on the third day. The precious time was lost, the brain got too serious damage, the limbs moved so much more and did not return.

In subsequent years, Elena Mukhina was repeatedly subjected to operations. However, the body was weakening more and more, it became increasingly difficult to get out of the anesthesia. At one point, the former sportswoman decided that the hospital chambers would be enough for her and she would leave home.

In 1985, on the advice of friends Mukhina tried to be treated on the method of Dikul. But the body could no longer withstand huge loads, and Elena refused the kidneys.

Then this strong woman decided that if you can not change the situation, you need to change your attitude to her. She began to do little at home, perform elementary exercises. And thanks to hard work I managed to somehow hold a spoon, sit in an armchair and write a little. At the same time, she graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physical Education, was engaged with teachers and passed examinations at home.

When in 1983, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Antonio Samaranch, presented Elena Mukhina with the Olympic Order, she was not too pleased with him. Possessing a strong character, the former sportswoman did not like to be pitied, and did not welcome journalistic curiosity.

Interests

Almost completely chained to bed, Elena Mukhina, nevertheless, did not cease to be interested in the sporting life of the country. By radio and TV - the only means of communication with the outside world - she followed all competitions, discussed and commented on them in conversations with her few associates. She was also interested in the cosmos, believed that life on other planets exists. In the last years of her life Mukhina turned to Orthodoxy, became a believer and a God-fearing person.

The last years and death of Elena Mukhina

In 2005, Elena lost her beloved grandmother, who by that time already suffered from senility and needed constant care. A year later, the school of sports gymnastics of Russia lost its outstanding gymnast, graceful and soft, but so unhappy ... The cause of Elena Mukhina's death is an old trauma and deterioration of the body following treatment. For 26 years, spent bedridden, she became sick almost all organs. She was courted by Mukhina in recent years by her close friend Elena Gurova, in whose hands she died in 2006.

Elena Mukhina is a gymnast who has always remained in sports history. Who knows what this girl could have achieved if fate had ordered a little differently. But, unfortunately, here you can not argue ...